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SEER Inquiry System - Report
Produced: 10/24/2025 4:58 PM
Question 20091014
Inquiry Details
References:
#1: ICD-O-3
#2: WHO Class Skin Tumors, 86-89. 2006
Question:
MP/H Rules/Histology--Melanoma: Please clarify what we should code when we see the term 'spitz or spitzoid' in association with melanomas. See Discussion.
Discussion:
Path reports often diagnose "melanoma with spitzoid features." There is no code for this in ICD-O-3. Would it be melanoma NOS with a specific type for MP/H rule H9 (with features of...), or would we stop at H3? Could the matrix principle apply, changing 8770/0 (one of the synonyms is Spitz nevus) to 8770/3 (although no Spitz synonyms are specifically listed under this code)? What if the path report says "melanoma arising in a Spitz nevus"?
Answer:
For cases diagnosed 2007 - 2020
Assign code 8720/3 [Malignant melanoma] for melanoma with Spitzoid features, Spitzoid variant of nevoid melanoma, melanoma arising in Spitz nevus, or Spitzoid melanoma. The WHO Classification of Tumors groups these with Nevoid melanomas and codes them to 8720/3.
According to WHO, "Nevoid melanoma is a subtype of malignant melanoma of the skin that is distinctive in that the primary lesion mimics many of the architectural features of a common compound or intradermal nevus ... or a Spitz nevus... These lesions are defined not as atypical nevi, but as melanomas because they involve the dermis and have the potential for metastasis."
